Blog

The latest news & tips from miituu

Real Time vs Non-Real Time Communication Channels

Mark Magnante | 23rd October 2015

The aim of any customer service business is to enhance understanding between agents and customers, and to resolve issues quickly and completely. So if a picture paints a thousand words, how many could video paint?

Real Time Communication: It’s All About…Now

Real time channels consist of voice, live chat, and video (Skype and video conference, for example). Non-real time channels include email, help forum, website contact request and pre-recorded video. Both of these types of channel are valuable, and combining both real and non-real time in an omni-channel communication strategy will create a much richer and more engaging experience for customers and agents.

Real time communication is built to deal with complex and important interactions, as well as time sensitive issues that require an immediate response from the business. Although customers may require issue resolution very quickly when they use real time communication channels, it's not often the case that the customer will be able to speak to an agent right away due to the huge volume of inbound calls agents receive…

It’s time to speed things up.

By incorporating other non-real time channels into an omni-channel approach, customers with non-urgent requests can self-serve, helping to reduce inbound call volumes. Non-real time technologies will reduce the load on real time tools, ensuring only the most urgent and emotion-driven requests are received through voice channels. Agents can spend more time on personalising their calls and non-real time visuals will offer an enhanced customer experience for those using them. It’s a win-win.

Non-Real Time Communication: Keep It Moving

FAQs and help forums are useful for self-serve situations, where a customer simply wants to know how to use a certain aspect of the business' product or service, or where they want more information before they purchase. Pre-recorded video is useful in customer service exchanges because it allows customers to find the information they need in their own time.

Video, image and screen share solutions are cost-effective as they are used over and over, with only small updates needed to keep content relevant and up-to-date. These can be used to explain complex processes or products as well as answering oft-repeated customer queries and providing information on new products or services. Who doesn’t love watching a video? (Not us anyway).

The Best of Both Worlds

The most successful and engaging customer service experience is where both real time and non-real time channels are utilised. In the MiituuCX system, real time tools are complemented by non-real time channels in an effort to increase efficiency, cut operational costs, reduce inbound call volumes and increase customer satisfaction. Customer requests and queries are handledmuch more effectively and quickly by directing customers to non-real time video explanations, screen grab sequences, welcome videos, help forums, FAQs, email, social media and more.